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NBA: Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls open season by resuming rivalry

Associated Press

Posted:
10/28/2013 08:28:30 PM PDT

Updated:
10/28/2013 10:30:54 PM PDT

LeBron James gets another ring. Derrick Rose gets to play again.

In simplest terms, let that serve as the teaser for what is going to happen Tuesday when the Miami Heat raises its second consecutive championship banner and third one overall just before opening the season against the Chicago Bulls, one of its biggest rivals.

"We don't like them and they don't like us," James said. "It's not like it's unheard of. We all know what it is. They don't like us, so we don't like them."

True, there's plenty of dislike. Bulls center Joakim Noah's "Hollywood as hell" description of the Heat, uttered more than two years ago after Miami ousted Chicago in the Eastern Conference finals, remains one good example. The physicality of last year's East semifinal series between the clubs, which Rose watched from the bench while sitting out the season, remains another.

Now the Bulls get Rose back, 18 months after he tore up his left knee. Over the past five seasons, James has four MVP awards, Rose holding the other from that span. And with Rose back, the Bulls -- and the East -- figure to be tougher for Miami.

"I'm looking forward to it, but I'm going to take it as any other game," Rose said of his return. "It's the first game. It's the next game. And we're just trying to sharpen things up, play the same way but just get our chemistry a little bit better."

Pacers: Forward Danny Granger will miss three weeks because of a strained left calf.

"It's not terrible," he said. "I can run up and down the court, but when I start jumping, it feels like a knot in my calf where I hurt it."

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Granger missed all but five games with a tendon injury in his left knee last season.

Knicks: New York has exercised its fourth-year option on guard Iman Shumpert's contract. Shumpert averaged 6.8 points and 3.0 rebounds in 45 games, all starts, last season.